Corporate Governance

Houston – Specialty retailer Charming Charlie is setting its sights beyond its North American store base. Charming Charlie opened the brand’s first locations outside of North America with two new retail stores in Dubai.   The stores, located at City Centre Mirdif and Ibn Battuta Mall, are operated by Apparel Group, Charming Charlie’s first international licensing partner, which has further growth planned for the brand in Qatar this year.   

Abingdon, Va. - K-VA-T Food Stores Inc. is expanding in Tennessee and Georgia. K-VA-T, parent company of the Food City supermarket chain, will acquire 29 Bi-Lo stores located in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Northwest Georgia from Southeastern Grocers.    K-VA-T intends to continue to operate all of these stores under the Food City banner and hire the vast majority of their store associates.  

Brampton, Canada – Loblaw Companies Ltd. swung from loss to profit in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, but still plans to improve profitability even more. Loblaw reported net income of $185 million, compared to a net loss of $456 million the same period a year earlier.  

Bentonville, Ark. – Shoppers who frequent 24-hour Wal-Mart locations may want to double-check the opening and closing times. According to Bloomberg, Wal-Mart will begin closing about forty 24-hour stores in areas including Philadelphia, New Jersey and Maryland for a few hours each night.   This expands upon the nighttime closures of about 25 other 24-hour Wal-Marts, which began earlier this year. Wal-Mart plans to use the downtime for activities such as stocking shelves and preparing store floors for customers. 

Bentonville, Ark. – Busy moms who need tooth wipes, or maybe more well-known baby items, have a new resource in Wal-Mart. In a post on the official Wal-Mart blog, Diana Marhsall, VP of baby for Wal-Mart U.S., says the retailer is expanding the products and services for moms (or anyone else) shopping for baby needs.  

New York – In a consumer culture obsessed with nostalgic “throwbacks,” a retail brand from the not-too-distant past is coming back. Specialty apparel brand Limited Too, which was consolidated into the Justice banner by then-parent company Tween Brands in 2009, is making a return.  

Toronto - Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is capitalizing on 42 real estate assets. The retailer has closed a joint venture with Simon Property Group focused on credit tenant, net-leased and multi-tenanted retail buildings in the U.S. and internationally.   

Baltimore – Even a reduction in income taxes couldn’t fully offset the impact of rising expenses on profit at Under Armour during the second quarter of fiscal 2015. Net income decreased 17% to $15 million, compared with $18 million in the prior year's period.   The decline in net income came even as net revenues increased 29% to $784 million, compared with $610 million. Direct-to-consumer net revenues, which represented 32% of total net revenues for the second quarter, grew 33% year-over-year.

Framingham, Mass. – Off-price retailer T.J. Maxx provides “compare at” prices that tell shoppers how much cheaper an item is than it would be at a full-price department store, but how truthful are those comparisons?    According to a class action lawsuit brought against T.J. Maxx in San Francisco by two customers, Staci Chester and Daniel Friedman, “compare at” pricing leaves a lot of wiggle room for the retailer.  

Brooklyn, N.Y. – If you’re wondering whether you should become an Etsy seller, being young, female, and a parent may be factors in your favor. According to a new survey of 4,000 U.S. Etsy sellers conducted by the online handmade crafts marketplace, 86% of Etsy sellers are women.   In addition, Etsy sellers are twice as likely to be under the age of 35 and many are parents with children at home.